The story is simple: a ruined underwater civilization that once lived in harmony with nature lost sight of that relationship and started exploiting the creatures it once worshipped. It works better as an impressionist piece than a directed experience, which is where it clams up for me. Moral reefĪbzû’s story peaks in what’s meant to be a grand catharsis, but I was tempted to roll my eyes. It’s never jarring, and merges with the exploration and environment into a singular entity-if it sounds sentimental, well, it is. I emerge from a cave and into a bottomless abyssal oceanic trench with almost no visible life but for the silhouette of a pod of whales below-the music follows suit, falling from an orchestral swell to nearly imperceptible ambience. But in place of David’s narration, the journey is elevated by an amazing score from Austin Wintory. It’s like bouncing around in a psychedelic marine documentary-all that’s missing is some Attenborough. If a hungry shark comes along, the camera chain continues. If you’re watching a small fish while a bigger fish snaps it up, the perspective will then shift to the big fish.
![abzu amazon abzu amazon](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71zlCih-ZfL._SS500_.jpg)
It’s an easy way to observe the individual animations and behaviors of the dozens of species a single area might have, and the camera follows the food chain. To really soak it in, you can ‘meditate’ on statues in each environment, which let you leave the perspective of the diver and use the camera to select any present organism to follow them around for a bit. Deeper environments turn down the brightness in exchange for mood, scarcity, and stranger creatures, but the sense of wonder never left me. They’re microcosms of a larger system, signifying an ideal abundance and exchange of energy-a pretty perpetual motion machine. You’re invincible.Įnvironments can look comically overloaded with life, but we’re meant to see the ecosystem squished tight and exploding with color. You might have to pull a lever here and you’re encouraged to steer clear of certain objects later on, but your progress is never gated by puzzles or actual danger. You play as a nameless diver with an infinite lung capacity (or no lungs at all) where you move on a linear path from one big underwater environment to the next at your own leisure. Underwater journeyĪbzû is an expertly directed psychedelic marine tour without a single UI or text prompt telling you where to go or what to do, purely driven by curiosity. I wasn’t worried about solving puzzles or a health bar or where to go next-I was only concerned with swimming and seeing and understanding, a major accomplishment. But for a moment, I was up close with an impressive, abstract being, thinking about what it might be thinking about. The squid doesn’t seem to care and continues to do cool squid stuff, which is fine.
![abzu amazon abzu amazon](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/618SNEl9y-L.__AC_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
We swim together for a minute, and then I do a little somersault to signal I’m off.